{{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{Notability|date=May 2024}} thumb|Photo of Tao Wells, taken at Ruby Bay, Nelson, New Zealand

'''Tao Wells''' is a New Zealand artist and a voluntary community conceptualist,<ref>after Marshall McLuhan's idea that every medium has a corresponding audience.</ref> whose work is known for its critiques of established systems of power and value.<ref>{{cite web|last=Circuit|title='Tao Wells'|url=http://circuit.org.nz/artist/tao-wells|work=Artist Index|publisher=Circuit|accessdate=31 January 2014}}</ref>

== Works ==

In 2000 Wells was asked to join up with the original three founders of Enjoy Gallery, at 174 Cuba St, Wellington.

In 2002 after the original three founders of Enjoy left the gallery, Wells added "Public" to the galleries name, making it "Enjoy Public Art Gallery". He also coined the phrase "Liberated from commercial constraint" to reflect the public funding from Creative New Zealand, he helped the gallery to receive. The gallery kept this name and phrase for 18 years and has enjoyed over a million dollars of public funding.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://enjoy.org.nz/about/people | title=People &#124; Enjoy Contemporary Art Space }}</ref>

In 2007, Wells became the only non Auckland based member of the influential artist run gallery, Gambia Castle.

In 2009, Wells was given, legendary contemporary art dealer, Peter McLeavey's 500th show, in his gallery at 147 Cuba St, Wellington. <ref>{{cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=Jill |date=2013 |title=Peter McLeavey: The life and times of a New Zealand art dealer}}</ref>

Wells' 2010 work the "Beneficiary's Office" was managed by his creation of a 'Public Public Relations' organization called "Wells Group". The performance was part of a larger series of temporary projects curated by Letting Space in Wellington. The "Beneficiary's Office" was controversial in its promotion of the opportunities and benefits of unemployment in an effort to criticize the contemporary abuse of work and working.

<blockquote>"We need to work less, so we consume less. The average carbon footprint of the unemployed person is about half of those earning over $100,000", "We should never be forced to take a job. If you're forced to take a job it's a punishment. If a job is a punishment then all we are building as a society, is a prison".<ref>{{cite news|last=Nichols|first=Lane|title=Artist paints noble picture of dole|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/4239839/Artist-paints-noble-picture-of-dole|accessdate=1 February 2014|newspaper=Dominion Post|date=2010-10-16}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>"I believe that, the true artists of our times, are the politicians and PR companies and the Lobby groups, that are creating the frames, for how we interpret reality."<ref>{{cite news|author1=Ryan Boswell|title=Unemployed promote unemployment as valid life style|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-ibgGeR7s|accessdate=23 January 2015|work=Prime News|date=2010-10-18}}</ref></blockquote>

The initial media coverage incorrectly reported that he received funding of $40,000 for the art project. Creative New Zealand released a clarification, stating that the total amount for Wells' show was actually $3,500.<ref>{{cite web|author=Creative New Zealand|title=Creative New Zealand statement on funding of Tao Wells exhibition 'The Beneficiary's office'|url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/news/creative-new-zealand-statement-on-funding-of-tao-wells-exhibition-the-beneficiary-s-office|accessdate=18 February 2014}}</ref> As a result of the media coverage, he had his benefit cancelled by Work and Income, with Wells and a welfare advocate questioning the illegality of WINZ's decision, it was reinstated.<ref>{{cite news|last=Chug|first=Kiran|title='Beneficiaries' artist gets dole back|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4266130/Beneficiaries-artist-gets-dole-back|accessdate=1 February 2014|newspaper=Dominion Post|date=2010-10-23}}</ref>

American writer Chris Kraus compared the Wells Group project with the concerns of French philosopher Simone Weil and the Italian NO WORK "Movement of 77'.

<blockquote> "What you did Tao, I thought, was incredibly courageous and profound... To be both dependent on that system and to so publicly expose the issues around that system was very brave... to be a public beneficiary that's about as bad as it gets. " <ref>{{cite web|title=Chris Kraus and Tao Wells In Conversation|url=http://vimeo.com/31671923|work=Mediums Symposium, Massey University School of Fine Arts, Litmus Research Initiative|publisher=Litmus Research Initiative|accessdate=1 February 2014}}</ref> </blockquote>

Writing by Wells has appeared numerous times in the magazine White Fungus.<ref>{{cite web|last=Overdahl|first=Stian|title=A Crazy Dream To Pursue: White Fungus For The Masses|url=http://pantograph-punch.com/a-crazy-dream-to-pursue-white-fungus-for-the-masses/|work=13/12/2013|publisher=Pantograph Punch|accessdate=18 February 2014}}</ref>

In 2018, ''Easier –'' a 72 glossy retrospective of his work – was published by the Govett-Brewster International Art Gallery featuring an essay on his practice by Chris Kraus. The publication looks at thirty years of Tao's involvement in contemporary art. And makes a strong argument for Artists that work for Universities to promote their works sponsorship, and stop flooding the market with their subsidised but not indicated, not independent, work.<ref>{{cite web|title=EASIER Tao Wells – artist publication|url=https://www.thebigidea.nz/events/219980-tao-wells-artist-publication-launch/|work=10 Aug 2018|publisher= Govett-Brewster Art Gallery}}</ref>

In her book ''Social Practices''(Semiotext(e) Active Agent Series, 2018) Kraus revisits Wells' work and praises it, "Wells reads deep into all the games surrounding cultural and economic life... he endeavors to put on the table all the business conducted underneath the table, exposing it to public view.”<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Chris|title=Social Practices|publisher=Semiotext(e)|year=2018|isbn=|location=Los Angeles: CA|pages=}}</ref> In a review of that work, Brooklyn Rail highlights the central role of Wells' practice, describing it as illustrating "how bound activism and art have become, doing what traditional activists' tactics alone could not."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chris Kraus: Social Practices|url=https://brooklynrail.org/2019/03/art_books/Chris-Kraus-Social-Practices|last=Coombs|first=Gretchen|date=2019-03-07|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-12}}</ref>

==Personal life== He lives in Dunedin, New Zealand, with his two children<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tao Wells artist publication launch|url=https://www.thebigidea.nz/events/219980-tao-wells-artist-publication-launch|date=2018-08-03|website=The Big Idea|language=en|access-date=2020-05-12}}</ref> after a period based in Nelson.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pearson|first=Anna|title=Artist's new beginning in Nelson|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/visual-arts/6306033/Artists-new-beginning-in-Nelson|accessdate=1 February 2014|newspaper=The Dominion Post|date=24 January 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == * [http://www.lettingspace.org.nz/essay-the-beneficiarys-office/ The Work of Art: Giovanni Tiso on Tao Wells' The Beneficiary's Office]. Essay * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWJO-_jgCW0/The Happy Bene. Doco of the Beneficiary's Office by Dick Whyte]. Video * [http://vimeo.com/31671923/ Chris Kraus and Tao Wells In Conversation]. Video of talk at a symposium at Massey University School of Fine Arts, Wellington * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140620205658/http://naturalselection.org.nz/archive/3/3.6_Dan_Arps.pdf Office Gossip Bastard Venting: An interview with Tao Wells]. New Zealand artist Dan Arps interviews Wells. Natural Selection, Issue 3 * [http://taowells.blogspot.co.nz/ Proper-Gander*TM]. Wells' blog including his weekly magazine "Large Print"

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Tao}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century New Zealand male artists Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Massey University alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Artists from Wellington City